Ezekiel 21

¹The word of the Lord came to me:

²Son of man , set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries . Prophesy against the land of Israel

³and say to the land of Israel , Thus says the Lord: Behold , I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked .

⁴Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked , therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north .

⁵And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn my sword from its sheath ; it shall not be sheathed again .

⁶As for you, son of man , groan ; with breaking heart and bitter grief , groan before their eyes .

⁷And when they say to you, Why do you groan ? you shall say , Because of the news that it is coming . Every heart will melt , and all hands will be feeble ; every spirit will faint , and all knees will be weak as water . Behold , it is coming , and it will be fulfilled , declares the Lord God.

⁸And the word of the Lord came to me:

⁹Son of man , prophesy and say , Thus says the Lord , say : A sword , a sword is sharpened and also polished ,

¹⁰sharpened for slaughter , polished to flash like lightning ! ( Or shall we rejoice ? You have despised the rod , my son , with everything of wood .)

¹¹So the sword is given to be polished , that it may be grasped in the hand . It is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer .

¹²Cry out and wail , son of man , for it is against my people . It is against all the princes of Israel . They are delivered over to the sword with my people . Strike therefore upon your thigh .

¹³For it will not be a testing — what could it do if you despise the rod ? declares the Lord God.

¹⁴As for you, son of man , prophesy . Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice , yes, three times , the sword for those to be slain . It is the sword for the great slaughter , which surrounds them,

¹⁵that their hearts may melt , and many stumble . At all their gates I have given the glittering sword . Ah , it is made like lightning ; it is taken up for slaughter .

¹⁶Cut sharply to the right ; set yourself to the left , wherever your face is directed .

¹⁷I also will clap my hands , and I will satisfy my fury ; I the Lord have spoken .

¹⁸The word of the Lord came to me again:

¹⁹As for you, son of man , mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come . Both of them shall come from the same land . And make a signpost ; make it at the head of the way to a city .

²⁰Mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah , into Jerusalem the fortified .

²¹For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way , at the head of the two ways , to use divination . He shakes the arrows ; he consults the teraphim ; he looks at the liver .

²²Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem , to set battering rams , to open the mouth with murder , to lift up the voice with shouting , to set battering rams against the gates , to cast up mounds , to build siege towers .

²³But to them it will seem like a false divination . They have sworn solemn oaths , but he brings their guilt to remembrance , that they may be taken .

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered , in that your transgressions are uncovered , so that in all your deeds your sins appear — because you have come to remembrance , you shall be taken in hand .

²⁵And you, O profane wicked one , prince of Israel , whose day has come , the time of your final punishment ,

²⁶thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown . Things shall not remain as they are . Exalt that which is low , and bring low that which is exalted .

²⁷A ruin , ruin , ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes , the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.

²⁸And you, son of man , prophesy , and say , Thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach ; say , A sword , a sword is drawn for the slaughter . It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning —

²⁹while they see for you false visions , while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the profane wicked , whose day has come , the time of their final punishment .

³⁰Return it to its sheath . In the place where you were created , in the land of your origin , I will judge you.

³¹And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath , and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men , skillful to destroy .

³²You shall be fuel for the fire . Your blood shall be in the midst of the land . You shall be no more remembered , for I the Lord have spoken .